0:01

Were you hired to participate

0:03

in the murder of Dan Markell? Yes, ma'am. Were

0:06

you paid to participate in the murder of Dan

0:08

Markell? Yes, ma'am. Who hired you? Sigfredo.

0:14

And who hired Sigfredo? His wife paid me.

0:16

Who paid

0:19

you to participate in the murder of Dan Markell? Sigfredo.

0:23

All right. And who gave him the money? His wife paid

0:26

me. Luis

0:28

Rivera, the notorious Latin

0:30

King gang member who pleaded guilty to

0:33

murdering Dan Markell,

0:34

took the stand once again in May 2022 in a Tallahassee courtroom.

0:39

In

0:39

exchange for his guilty plea and

0:42

cooperation with the state,

0:43

he would serve 19 years for

0:45

his role in the murder.

0:48

In my very first Court Junkie episodes about

0:50

this case, which started with episode 93,

0:54

I covered Luis's testimony from the first trial,

0:56

where he talked about carrying out the actual

0:58

murder. But in this one, I'm going

1:00

to skip all that and just focus on the parts relevant

1:03

to Catherine Magbanua's alleged

1:05

involvement.

1:07

In part one, which I released last

1:09

week, I covered much of the prosecution's

1:11

case against Catherine, including

1:13

some pretty contentious testimony from

1:15

Wendy Adelson. Today,

1:17

I'm covering the rest of the prosecution's

1:20

case, the defense's side, and

1:22

the outcome. Catherine's

1:24

first trial ended with a hung jury who

1:26

couldn't decide what, if any, her

1:29

role was in this murder.

1:31

Would this jury be any different? This

1:34

is Jillian, and in partnership with Law &

1:37

Crime, you are listening to Court Junkie,

1:39

episode 204, part 2.

1:46

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2:56

Louis Rivera testified that he knew

2:58

Catherine McBanwah through Siegfredo

3:00

Garcia, or Tutto,

3:02

his best friend, and that he was positive

3:05

that she was the one who hired them

3:07

for the killing. Who

3:10

set up this,

3:11

this arrangement, this conspiracy

3:14

to murder? My understanding

3:16

that I know was Katie was

3:18

involved. She was a mastermind.

3:21

She told him to come do a

3:23

job and he came and told me. Did

3:26

you have any understanding of

3:28

why we were coming to Tallahassee

3:30

to kill this guy? Not at that moment. But

3:32

you knew it was a murder for hire. Yes

3:35

ma'am. And you knew someone above Katie

3:37

with the money was coming from somewhere

3:39

above Katie. Yes ma'am.

3:42

He said Siegfredo knew Catherine was seeing

3:44

a dentist, but that Siegfredo didn't

3:46

know him. To your knowledge,

3:49

who all was paid to participate in

3:51

this murder? Who

3:54

was all paid? That's me. Siegfredo.

3:58

Katie got paid. Who

4:01

is the dentist? I don't

4:03

know him. I call him the dentist, but the

4:05

name is Charlie, I guess, but... But at

4:07

the time of this murder, you just knew

4:09

there was a dentist? Yes, ma'am. And

4:12

who was the... who did you think the dentist

4:14

was? Well, for working.

4:16

Katie was working on it. All right. And did

4:19

you ever know Siegfredo Garcia

4:21

to be in contact with the dentist? Not

4:24

that I know of. Did you have phone calls

4:26

with the dentist? No. So, text

4:29

messages with the dentist to your knowledge? No,

4:31

ma'am. Did you ever see him talking

4:34

with the dentist? No, ma'am. All

4:37

right. And you didn't know the dentist? No, ma'am. Not at

4:39

all. Never personally met him? Never.

4:43

He said one time in March 2014,

4:46

he and Siegfredo pulled up to a restaurant

4:48

and saw Catherine and Charlie eating there.

4:50

And that's when Siegfredo told him

4:52

about them dating. Siegfredo

4:54

was angry about it and wanted to go

4:57

after them, but Louis said he stopped

4:59

him. To his knowledge, he

5:01

said Siegfredo didn't even know Charlie's

5:03

name. Louis also

5:06

once again implicated Wendy Adelson

5:08

and referred to her as The Lady.

5:12

What about something to do

5:14

with The Lady and her kids? Tell us about that.

5:17

Yeah. All

5:19

I knew was that she was giving us the money. I

5:22

called her The Lady because I never knew her name. But

5:24

that lady turned out to be Wendy Adelson, right?

5:27

Yes, ma'am. And your understanding

5:29

of this murder was that ultimately what? That

5:32

she was going to pay. That the money

5:34

was coming from her and

5:36

that this murder was to help her and someone? Yes, ma'am. Help

5:39

her how? To get her kids back.

5:42

And did you ever know Garcia

5:45

to have any contact with

5:47

Wendy Adelson? No, not in my

5:49

knowledge.

5:50

So all the contacts with any Adelson

5:52

or Dennis person happened

5:55

through Catherine McDonald. Yes, ma'am.

5:57

trips

6:00

to Tallahassee, one in June

6:02

to scope the place out and then again

6:04

in July to carry it out. They

6:06

would have carried it out on the June trip if

6:08

there was an opportunity, but he said they

6:11

kept losing track of Dan. Initially,

6:14

Sigbrato told him they were going to Tallahassee

6:16

for a robbery and so he had purchased

6:19

a gun for it. But when they were about

6:21

halfway there, Sigbrato told him

6:23

they were actually going to kill someone. He

6:26

said he was willing to be the shooter, but it

6:28

just worked out that he wasn't.

6:31

Who provided the information to you all

6:33

as to who to kill? They

6:35

come up here? Yeah. Katie told

6:37

him, Katie told Sigbrato,

6:41

the address and he got a piece of paper,

6:44

so we came up here straight. Alright,

6:46

so he had a piece of paper. Was that in

6:48

the Prius? Yes ma'am.

6:50

Okay, and

6:53

did he have the piece, I know you made two trips. The

6:55

Prius was one with the murder, right? And then

6:58

there was a trip before that. Okay,

7:01

let's talk for a second about the

7:03

trip before that. Did you have the murder

7:05

weapon both times? Yes ma'am. Did

7:08

you have the paper both times? Yes ma'am. Alright,

7:10

and what was on the paper? A picture

7:13

of the

7:16

dude.

7:17

Dan Markell?

7:17

Yes, a picture of him and an address.

7:21

Was the address the place that you ultimately ended

7:23

up killing him? Yes, ma'am. Alright. Did

7:27

you ever witness Sigbrato Garcia

7:29

have a conversation with anyone

7:31

about this murder or this case other

7:34

than you and Catherine Magdana?

7:36

No, it's just us two, that's it.

7:39

Lewis said he couldn't recall if Sigbrato

7:41

talked to Catherine on the phone during the first

7:43

trip in June.

7:45

Do you remember

7:46

any conversations involving

7:48

don't do anything stupid? Yes.

7:50

And

7:50

was that first trip?

7:53

Both trips probably. Okay, and

7:55

what was the nature of those conversations?

8:02

Who was saying don't do anything stupid? Sadie.

8:05

Who was she telling that to? To

8:07

Freda. How was it you were able,

8:09

how do you know what she told to Freda?

8:12

On the person he called. He was calling

8:14

her during the first trip? Second trip. Second

8:16

trip.

8:18

The day before the murder, he described

8:20

seeing who he said was Wendy Adelson

8:23

on Dan's street. So

8:25

I was scoping her house, and

8:27

I said I'm scoping the house and we leaving. She

8:30

was walking, sidewalk, which

8:33

he did. And

8:35

that was on the road where Markel lived?

8:38

Yes ma'am. A couple of houses down from his

8:40

house. Okay.

8:41

And were you driving at that time? Yes ma'am. What

8:44

did the lady do when you saw her?

8:45

She looked at the car and got

8:49

in the phone right away. Made

8:51

a phone call.

8:53

Okay. And how did you know

8:56

that the lady, or why did you think

8:58

that the

8:58

lady was Wendy Adelson? In fact, I

9:00

see her. Why is she looking at the car like that? That's

9:03

her. That's the lady.

9:05

Okay. She believed that to be Wendy

9:07

Adelson. Yes ma'am.

9:09

He said Sigfredo then told him they

9:11

had to get the job done because Catherine

9:13

told him Dan was going to be leaving town.

9:16

Prosecutor Kaplan

9:18

asked him about a time during the second trip

9:20

when he posted something on Instagram.

9:23

I took a picture of, I think

9:26

it was a line. And

9:28

I remember Garcia getting

9:30

a phone call. He's

9:32

telling me to take that down. That's too much evidence

9:35

where we were at.

9:37

All right. Say that again.

9:39

I remember Garcia telling me to take that picture down.

9:42

That's too much evidence. But we were, we

9:44

were that. And

9:46

then he told Garcia and told him, hey, you need to take that picture

9:48

down ASAP.

9:49

Okay.

9:50

Why would it be a problem for you to be posting a

9:52

picture from Tallahassee? Because we came out here to do a job.

9:55

Okay. So there could be data associated

9:57

with

9:58

where you took the picture. Yes ma'am.

10:01

He

10:01

said about an hour after the murder,

10:03

Sigfredo immediately called Catherine.

10:05

He could hear both of them talk and

10:08

recognized her voice.

10:10

All right, what was that conversation?

10:12

He called and said,

10:15

it's done. She said, I know, I

10:18

tell them, what's up with the money? He

10:20

said, where's the money at? He said, tomorrow.

10:22

The next day was

10:24

a Saturday because I remember because I ended up going to

10:27

a barbershop.

10:28

All right. So, Sigfredo

10:31

Garcia calls

10:33

Catherine Marabena, the defendant. Yes, ma'am.

10:35

And he says, it's done.

10:38

Yes, ma'am. Or something along those lines.

10:40

The job is done. The job is done.

10:42

And she says, I know. Yes, ma'am.

10:44

Do you, did she elaborate on it? Did

10:46

she say how

10:47

she knew? No, ma'am. It's

10:49

leading, but it's also asked an answer. We've heard

10:52

of it. Overruled.

10:53

Did she say how she knew? No,

10:55

ma'am.

10:56

The morning after the murder, Catherine

10:58

was looking for Sigfredo. He said Sigfredo

11:01

had dumped his phone at this point, so she

11:03

couldn't get a hold of him. Louis

11:06

told the jury he was at a barbershop when

11:08

his girlfriend Jessica called him and told

11:10

him Catherine and Sigfredo were at his house.

11:13

He said he drove home and Catherine,

11:15

Sigfredo and Jessica were there. The

11:18

money was in a small brown paper

11:20

bag. He and Sigfredo went out

11:22

into the car and opened it while Catherine

11:25

stayed inside the house. He said

11:27

the money was in hundreds and they were

11:29

all stapled in thousand dollar stacks.

11:32

He said he got $35,000 and then Sigfredo gave him an additional $2,000.

11:38

He estimated Sigfredo got $40,000

11:41

and Catherine got the rest. He

11:44

said the total was $100,000. He

11:47

said he never had any contact with

11:49

anyone from the Adelson family, that

11:51

it was always through Sigfredo who

11:54

went through Catherine. On

11:57

cross, Louis agreed that in order

11:59

to get his deal, he had to cooperate.

12:02

Once he was charged in Dan's murder, he

12:04

went through his discovery with his attorney.

12:07

He agreed that he read warrants detailing

12:10

the state's theory of the case and

12:12

how they believed Catherine was involved.

12:15

And ultimately what you did in this case,

12:19

you met with law enforcement,

12:21

right? Yes, sir. You finally sit down

12:23

with them come the fall time of 2016, right?

12:27

Yes.

12:29

You knew their theory, right?

12:32

That Catherine was involved,

12:35

right? I knew she was involved, yep.

12:38

And you named the names that they wanted

12:40

to hear to get a reduction. That's what you

12:42

did, right? I gave them the names, yes.

12:45

You gave the two names that were in the reports

12:47

and in your discovery, Wendy Adelson

12:49

and Catherine McBannell, right? Yes.

12:52

You did exactly what you said you did in the

12:54

federal case. You took it and ran.

12:57

Yes, sir.

12:58

Agreed to the government's facts, whether truthful

13:01

or not.

13:02

That's true, but yes.

13:03

You agree that you agreed to untruthful

13:05

facts? No, everything I said was true

13:08

or whatever you're trying to say.

13:11

I'm here trying to figure out what you've said

13:13

and done. So you need to tell me, okay, please?

13:18

You agreed to the government's facts, right? Yes.

13:21

He agreed that he got a reduced charge

13:23

from first degree murder to second

13:25

degree for his cooperation. His

13:28

qualification as a habitual offender,

13:30

along with the death penalty, was also

13:33

waived, along with other charges

13:35

like conspiracy, solicitation,

13:37

and being in possession of a firearm. He

13:40

agreed that if he had said he was the shooter,

13:42

he likely wouldn't have gotten a deal.

13:45

But I'm not the shooter, he said. Catherine's

13:49

attorney, Chris DeCoast, then went over

13:51

his cell phone records for the day after the

13:53

murder, when Lewis said Catherine

13:55

dropped off the money. He pointed

13:57

out that the cell phone records don't match

13:59

his story about where he was that morning.

14:02

Lewis had a reason for that. He said

14:04

he had two phones and had given

14:06

one of them to his friend.

14:09

What is your explanation to the jury? Why that

14:11

phone that's communicating with Ms. Mack Bowne

14:14

is right there when the phone calls

14:16

are happening in Normandy, and not where

14:18

you claim it to be? I have two phones. Anthony

14:21

had more of the phone, and he's

14:23

going that way to go pick up two, so it's right

14:25

around the phone, not too far from each other. They're

14:27

same to the area

14:28

where shrimp lived at.

14:30

Mr. Rivera, you've given

14:32

one, two, three, four,

14:34

five, six, this is your 11th time

14:36

testifying. Have you ever said that before?

14:39

That you gave your phone to King Anthony,

14:41

and that's why?

14:43

Your cell phone. I believe I said it one

14:45

time before. It

14:46

should be on record, but I

14:49

have said it one time before. I've been

14:51

a long time, been eight years.

14:54

So that same phone that went with you to

14:56

Tallahassee, the same phone

14:58

that you had that was using for all the communication,

15:01

just so happens to be that that phone is

15:03

not in your possession. The one that's communicating, just

15:05

like you're saying, was communicating

15:08

with Ms. Mack Bowne one that morning.

15:10

Yes, sir. So then, what's the other phone number? What's

15:12

the other phone? I don't know the number. You never told

15:15

them, right? I don't know the phone number. We

15:17

don't have the cell phone records. I can't

15:19

remember. If I remember the phone, I can't remember. It's been

15:21

eight years total.

15:22

Who's going to remember the phone

15:25

number?

15:26

De Koste told him he needs for him

15:28

to tell the jury the truth.

15:30

Garcia came to you to

15:32

commit this murder, but he didn't mention Katie,

15:35

right? He said

15:36

he'd been involved the whole time, dog.

15:38

Garcia came to you and he didn't mention

15:41

who was hiring him, right?

15:43

Yes, he did.

15:44

Now, you knew that cooperating

15:46

just against Alfredo Garcia, it wouldn't

15:49

help you,

15:50

right? You said that you know that. She's

15:53

the mastermind. She was in the middle of this.

15:55

But cooperating against Garcia, that's my

15:57

question. You agree with me that that wouldn't help you.

16:01

No, I don't agree with you with it.

16:04

If you had just implicated Garcia, you

16:06

already agreed you would not have gotten a deal. You know

16:08

that, right? Since day one, I mentioned her

16:10

name. They laid

16:12

it out for you who they wanted, right? No.

16:16

They told you. I gave them the truth, bro. I'm

16:18

not going to go back and forth with you. Man, I gave them the

16:20

truth.

16:21

It was Katie and Garcia. It was all three of us involved.

16:23

Mr. Rivera, you... It was

16:25

the truth, man.

16:27

Christopher Corbett from the Tallahassee

16:29

Police Department analyzed the

16:31

cell phone evidence in this case. He

16:33

first went over the route Wendy Adelson took

16:36

on the morning of the murder, displaying for

16:38

the jury a map of the area. He

16:41

said she first went south on her

16:43

way to a liquor store and then encountered

16:45

a roadblock police had put up near Dan's

16:48

house, the crime scene. After

16:50

hitting the roadblock, he said she then turned

16:53

around and took a couple more turns and

16:55

then went to ABC Fine Wine

16:57

and Spool. Now,

17:00

when she drove by Trescot

17:03

Drive, she encountered

17:04

the roadblock

17:06

around, you said, Did

17:08

she attempt to call Dan Markell

17:11

or her children?

17:13

She did not. Did she call

17:15

her children's daycare, creative preschool

17:17

to see if

17:19

they had made it to school?

17:20

She did not.

17:21

Did she attempt to call 911 looking

17:24

at her call detail records?

17:25

From the call detail records? No.

17:27

After the liquor store, she then traveled

17:30

back north and went to Mosaic

17:32

Restaurant.

17:33

Now, are you familiar with the

17:36

area of Thomasville Road in

17:38

I-10 where Mosaic used to be?

17:41

I am, yes. Were there any liquor stores

17:43

in that area back in July of 2014?

17:45

There were, yes. And what were

17:48

those stores? There was

17:50

Market Square Liquors, Publix

17:52

Liquors, there's an ABC a little

17:54

further north on Thomasville Road as well.

17:56

Okay. And did you create a map

17:59

based on those stores? store locations and then

18:03

is that what you have next? Okay. It is. Can

18:06

you show us that? I can.

18:08

The dotted red line on the map, representing

18:11

the route she could have taken to get to a

18:13

liquor store by the restaurant she was going

18:15

to, was relatively short

18:17

and just went north from her house and

18:20

then west. The purple line,

18:22

the one she actually took, where she encountered

18:24

the roadblock by Dan's house and then

18:26

went to ABC Liquors, went

18:29

what appears to be out of the way south,

18:31

then west and then back up north

18:33

to the restaurant, which was pretty much

18:36

just west of where she lived. How

18:39

much longer is the route that she

18:41

actually took, which took her by

18:43

the Trescott Drive residents of Dan Markell

18:45

compared to the route she could have taken? Timing,

18:48

of course, depends on a lot of things, traffic

18:51

and other, but in general, we can see that

18:53

the shortest route is just

18:56

over three and a half miles, the longest route

18:58

is just under nine and a half. So it's

19:02

obviously a longer trip.

19:03

Kerbert also explained frequency reports

19:06

they ran in the case. He told the jury

19:08

it tells them, based on phone records,

19:11

who someone communicates with most frequently

19:13

at any given time. He said it can

19:15

help to identify co-conspirators,

19:18

friends, neighbors, or family. Sig

19:21

Freidow's frequency report showed the top

19:23

number he communicated with around the time

19:25

of the murder was Catherine. Catherine

19:28

was also the second most frequent contact

19:31

in Charlie Adelson's records.

19:33

So

19:34

you find Garcia's records in

19:37

this tower dump communicating near Premier

19:39

Jam. You compare his number

19:41

against all the Adelson's

19:43

and find

19:44

only one contact ever from

19:46

him to Harvey Adelson and it was just a voicemail.

19:50

So then you look at Garcia's

19:52

frequency report to see if any of

19:55

his top contacts have any contact with any

19:57

Adelson, if there's any link to him and the Adelson's.

20:00

And this is what you found?

20:01

That's correct.

20:03

Now, central to the state's case is

20:05

a timeline, which they were able to

20:07

put together mostly from phone records.

20:10

Prosecutors contend that Catherine took

20:12

Sigbrato to rent the car for their June

20:14

trip. On June 2, Catherine's

20:17

phone records from the time the car was rented

20:20

show that her phone was pinging off the tower

20:22

by the rental place, which was about 25

20:24

minutes from where she lived. On

20:27

her way to the rental car place, she

20:29

had a phone call with Geico, her

20:31

car insurance company. Then,

20:34

as she left that area, there was a voice

20:36

call with Charlie Adelson. And

20:39

when she got back to her house, there was an outgoing

20:41

phone call she made to Sigbrato. For

20:45

the June trip, prosecutors were able

20:47

to follow along with Lewis's phone records,

20:50

which matched the rental car's GPS.

20:53

But they didn't have any cell phone records for Sigbrato

20:56

for the month of June. According

20:58

to Catherine's records, during this trip,

21:00

she and Sigbrato had 16 total

21:03

communications over the course of 48

21:05

hours.

21:06

Catherine also called Lewis a few

21:09

times, which prosecutors said

21:11

was unusual. It was a number

21:13

she didn't normally call, and it suggested

21:15

to them that she knew Lewis and Sigbrato

21:18

were together. After

21:21

that trip, on June 6, the

21:23

day the rental car was returned, the

21:25

car's GPS shows that it was in close

21:27

proximity to Catherine's residence at 848

21:30

a.m. This

21:32

would be about eight hours after the car returned

21:34

back from Tallahassee. Later

21:37

that day, Catherine's phone records showed

21:39

travel again towards the rental car place,

21:42

and the rental car was returned. On

21:45

the night of July 14, 2014, the night before the

21:47

Green Prius was rented for the July

21:52

trip, location data for Charlie's

21:54

phone was consistent with going to dinner with

21:57

Catherine that night near her house.

22:00

He went home later. After that,

22:02

Catherine's phone communicated with Sigfredo.

22:06

The next day on July 15th, Sigfredo

22:09

and Lewis rented the Prius. After

22:12

that, phone records show communication

22:14

between Sigfredo and Catherine. At 9.30

22:18

PM, those communications stopped,

22:21

consistent with them being together. At 10.25

22:24

that night, the rental car's GPS

22:27

showed that it was in the parking lot of Catherine's

22:29

residence. On

22:32

July 17th, Sigfredo

22:34

and Lewis arrived in Tallahassee

22:36

in the early morning hours. There

22:39

were 22 phone events between Sigfredo

22:41

and Catherine during this trip. At

22:44

one point, she called Sigfredo's phone

22:46

and then after called Lewis's number,

22:48

which was again unusual for

22:51

her. The first time she called

22:53

Lewis, according to her records, was during

22:55

the June trip, and here it was happening

22:58

again for the second time on this

23:00

trip. Right after trying

23:02

Lewis's number, she again tried calling

23:04

Sigfredo. On

23:07

July 18th, the day of the murder,

23:09

Catherine and Charlie communicated multiple

23:12

times, as did Catherine

23:14

and Sigfredo. In fact, prosecutors

23:16

noted that there was a flurry of calls

23:19

between Donna and Charlie, then

23:22

Charlie to Catherine, then

23:24

Catherine to Sigfredo, and Bach

23:26

the same way. The

23:29

first phone call Sigfredo made after

23:31

the murder was to Catherine. That

23:35

night, Catherine's cell phone data is consistent

23:37

with her going to her friend

23:38

Yindra's house.

23:40

Yindra testified at the first trial that

23:42

Catherine had asked her to watch her kids.

23:45

Then Catherine's phone

23:47

went to the area of Lewis's residence.

23:50

At that same time, Lewis and Sigfredo's

23:52

phones were consistent with being there too.

23:56

Investigator Corbett testified that he wasn't able to

23:58

tell anything from Catherine. Catherine's location

24:01

data after that. Her phone appears

24:03

to have been turned off, but he was

24:05

able to tell that she then went to Charlie's

24:07

house, as evidenced by text messages

24:10

from Charlie's phone. The

24:13

next morning was the alleged money

24:15

drop. At around 9.45, Catherine

24:17

attempted to call six photo multiple times,

24:20

but doesn't appear to have been able to get through.

24:23

It appears as though his phone had been shut

24:25

off, and Corbett said it's consistent

24:28

with him getting rid of his phone. Catherine

24:31

then tried another number belonging to

24:33

a friend of Sigfredo and Louis, Anthony

24:36

Ortiz, and then Louis called

24:38

her. Louis' location shows

24:41

he was first by his residence or

24:43

the barbershop, which are near each other.

24:46

Then he went by a woman they call Shrimp's

24:48

House, where Sigfredo would often stay,

24:51

and then went back to Louis' house.

24:54

Communication continued between Catherine's

24:56

phone and Louis' phone. Catherine's

25:00

location data then shows her traveling

25:02

south from the area of Charlie's house

25:05

to the area of Louis' then

25:07

there was no activity on Catherine's phone

25:10

between 10.31 and 11.23 AM.

25:14

Could this evidence be consistent with Rivera

25:17

and McBannua trying to reach Garcia,

25:20

finding him and the three of them meeting up

25:22

at Rivera's residence? It

25:24

could be, yes.

25:28

And you're not going off just the locations for that, but

25:30

just the pattern

25:33

of calling, how they are all calling or all

25:35

trying to get in contact with Garcia, talking

25:37

to each other and then it abruptly stops once they're

25:39

consistent with Rivera's residence?

25:41

That's correct.

25:43

At 11.23 AM, Catherine's

25:45

phone moved to Celsite South.

25:48

Corbett said her friend Yindra's residence

25:50

could be consistent with this. Prosecutor

25:53

Dugan asked Corbett if any Adelson

25:56

phones ever communicated with Sigfredo's

25:58

phone, aside from that. one voicemail

26:00

to Harvey from a few weeks prior to the

26:03

murder. He said no. On

26:06

cross Christa coast asked about

26:08

the frequency of communications between Charlie

26:11

and Catherine and then Catherine and

26:13

six Fredo. He pulled up phone records

26:15

from what he called an insignificant

26:17

date.

26:19

So Sergeant, we have an insignificant date, a lot

26:23

of communications with six

26:26

Fredo Garcia in green. And

26:30

here on may 1st, we have communications

26:33

with six Fredo Garcia in green

26:35

and purple,

26:37

the grandmother of her children, six

26:39

Fredo Garcia again. So

26:41

communications with Charles Adelson. Then again,

26:43

with six Fredo Garcia, correct? Correct.

26:46

So you'd agree with me that when we compare an insignificant

26:49

day to a significant day, that this

26:51

pattern is not unusual. There

26:54

is daily communication between these parties. Correct.

26:57

On insignificant days and significant

26:59

days. Correct.

27:02

The coast also pointed out that Catherine

27:04

had family and friends who lived near where

27:06

the cars were rented and that it was

27:08

impossible to say she wasn't visiting them

27:11

to coast then focused

27:13

on the alleged money drop the morning after Dan was killed

27:16

corporate agreed that there were discussions

27:18

in the messages about the day's activities

27:20

and about Catherine wanting to go to the

27:22

pool with her kids. When

27:26

asked if he knew where her kids were during

27:28

the alleged money drop off, he said no, based

27:30

on, on your

27:31

review of everything.

27:34

Can

27:38

you say to this jury

27:40

that Catherine McBann one, Luis Rivera ever met that morning?

27:45

No.

27:46

No.

27:48

He was asked about WhatsApp and

27:50

communications found on Charlie's phone

27:52

where Charlie references wanting to talk

27:54

to people on the app. The

27:57

coast pointed out that the only time Catherine

27:59

used. WhatsApp to communicate with Charlie

28:01

was when he was out of the country. Corbett

28:04

said he wasn't aware of that and couldn't

28:06

speak to it. Yintra

28:09

Velasquez-Mascaro, a childhood

28:12

friend of Catherine's, took the stand

28:14

and testified once again for the state.

28:17

As a refresher, Yintra previously

28:19

testified at Catherine's first trial. Then

28:22

she testified about Catherine's work life

28:24

around the time of the murder and after.

28:27

She said she used to work with Catherine at various

28:30

nightclubs and that they did get paid

28:32

in cash. However, she said

28:34

they didn't make that much money, maybe

28:36

a couple hundred dollars a night on average.

28:39

Once in a while, they would make about 400 to $500, but that wasn't

28:41

very often. She

28:46

never knew Catherine to work at the Adelson

28:48

Institute. She had also

28:50

said that the night Dan was murdered, Catherine

28:52

asked her to watch her kids, something

28:55

she hadn't done before. Her kids

28:57

stayed the night. The next day,

28:59

Catherine called and told her Charlie's

29:01

brother-in-law had been in an accident.

29:05

Yintra reiterated much of her testimony

29:07

this time around too. She also

29:10

testified more about Catherine's relationships

29:12

with Charlie and Siegfredo. And

29:14

she said Catherine would try to keep them apart

29:17

from each other.

29:18

Was Siegfredo Garcia jealous of Charlie

29:21

Adelson? Yeah. Did

29:23

Siegfredo Garcia ever confront Charlie

29:25

Adelson? I only know

29:27

of one instance, and it wasn't,

29:31

he didn't talk to him really.

29:34

And how do you know about this? Let me ask a question. Katie

29:36

told me about it. Can you tell me what she said? She

29:39

stated that they were leaving her apartment

29:41

when she lived in North Bay Village,

29:43

and that he blocked the

29:45

car that they were in. So they were going

29:48

out, they were going

29:48

jut skiing, if I'm not mistaken, and that

29:51

he blocked the

29:51

car for them not to be able to leave.

29:53

Okay, Garcia blocked Charlie

29:56

Adelson and Catherine Van Wolf are leaving. Correct. Okay,

29:59

and you said that Garcia from what

30:01

she told you Garcia and Charlie never talked

30:04

but he was Creating some type

30:06

of disturbing Garcia was causing

30:08

a scene. Okay Did

30:11

she what did she tell you about what happened?

30:13

Like how did it end that? Oh, they just

30:16

ended up driving off After he

30:18

eventually moved the car and they just drove off.

30:21

Okay, so there's never any direct communication

30:24

But it's screaming yelling causing a scene and

30:26

then they leave. Yes

30:28

Um,

30:29

no after that, I guess like about

30:32

of jealousy disturbing a scene or

30:34

causing a scene by Garcia Did

30:36

Catherine van wanna tell you about something? Garcia

30:40

did that embarrassed her? Yes.

30:42

Okay. Tell me about that She told

30:45

me that he retrieved or

30:47

what he thought was

30:48

Charlie's phone number from her cell phone

30:51

and it ended up being that it wasn't Charlie's

30:53

phone number It was actually his father's phone number and

30:56

that he left a very nasty voicemail

30:58

on the phone

31:01

She leaves a very nasty voicemail for Charlie's

31:04

dad Yes, but he thought it was Charlie

31:06

that he was leaving the voicemail for but it ended

31:08

up being Harvey Okay, and how did

31:10

she feel that her ex has

31:12

called her boyfriend's dad and left a nasty voicemail?

31:15

She was really embarrassed

31:17

on cross. She agreed that's a Fredo

31:20

didn't like the fact that Catherine was dating

31:22

Charlie

31:24

Ramsey neighbor used to own club

31:27

fate one of the clubs Catherine

31:29

worked at he said about 90% of

31:31

the customers paid with credit cards and

31:33

that at the end of the night any tips the

31:36

Servers made would then be added to their paychecks

31:39

if they made cash tips. They would keep

31:41

those

31:42

He said on average a good night for the employees

31:45

would be about 200 to 250 dollars a night

31:49

He said the club itself was not a successful

31:51

venue. He ended up selling it and

31:53

walking away from it One

31:56

of Charlie Adelson's ex-girlfriends

31:59

who dated him after the murder, also

32:02

took the stand again in this trial.

32:04

June Umchinda had made headlines

32:07

when she first testified after saying

32:09

that she saw Charlie with stapled $100

32:11

bills. That's

32:14

exactly the way Louis Rivera had described

32:16

how the money was after receiving it from Catherine

32:19

stapled together. There

32:21

were a few new details June testified

32:24

about this time around. She said

32:26

she and Charlie dated for a solid two

32:28

years, but that they've been on again

32:31

off again for seven. For

32:33

the last year or so she said he had

32:35

been trying to see her a lot. But

32:37

she said she just couldn't with everything

32:40

going on with this case. She

32:42

said the last time she had contact with him

32:45

was the day before his arrest. He

32:47

had reached out to her the night before. She

32:50

replied the next day, but he was already

32:52

gone.

32:54

She was again asked about money she

32:56

had seen in a refrigerator sized

32:58

safe Charlie had in his room. And

33:01

that was thousands and thousands of dollars

33:05

from the time that I saw there was,

33:07

I don't know how much was in there.

33:09

And were the thousands and thousands

33:12

of dollars kept in stacks of hundreds

33:16

of thousands that I saw were $100 bills, $100

33:19

bills. And were they

33:22

stapled together in stacks?

33:27

I believe so. I saw

33:29

like a staple,

33:31

but this was so long ago that. Would

33:34

it refresh your recollection to review your

33:36

prior statement given on? No, I

33:40

remember it. Like, I mean, I

33:42

there were staples on it. I just don't

33:44

know. Like I never saw the money

33:46

in the safe. So I don't know. Okay,

33:49

but you saw money out of the safe being counted,

33:51

right? Right. Okay. And that

33:53

money was

33:55

in stacks of $100 bills stapled

33:57

together. Um,

34:01

yes.

34:03

She was asked if Charlie's behavior

34:05

changed after the first arrests were made

34:07

in the case, meaning Siegfredo

34:09

and Lewis. She said he went through

34:11

a lot of stages. He became depressed

34:14

and was never the same.

34:16

Did he become violent? Um,

34:22

not like really to me,

34:24

but

34:26

sometimes you would get angry sometimes.

34:28

Agitated? I

34:31

think so, yeah. Short-fused?

34:34

Um,

34:36

I mean, yeah, I guess so, yeah. Couldn't

34:39

sleep? Yes.

34:41

Did he keep clothes

34:43

by his bed in case the police showed up in

34:45

the middle of the night?

34:47

Um, he did that once,

34:49

I think, but I, it was so long

34:51

ago that I don't know if it was for that

34:54

reason.

34:55

Moon was also asked about Donna

34:58

Adelson.

34:59

Did you have any contact with Donna Adelson

35:01

during this timeframe? No.

35:04

Do you remember being

35:06

on

35:06

the balcony of the icon

35:09

where Mrs. Adelson lives, having a

35:11

conversation with her about this case?

35:14

Um, briefly.

35:16

All right. And what was her

35:18

demeanor? Do you know what I mean by

35:20

that?

35:21

How was she acting?

35:23

Yeah, I know what demeanor means, but

35:26

she was, um, everyone was

35:28

obviously upset about this and,

35:30

you

35:31

know, it wasn't, she wasn't

35:33

happy. She was stressed out,

35:35

right? Yeah, of course. Did

35:37

she have puffy eyes?

35:40

I don't remember. Did she complain

35:42

about not sleeping? Possibly.

35:45

And did

35:48

she make a statement to you about Dan

35:50

Markell?

35:52

Um, yes,

35:55

I believe so. What was that statement?

35:59

Um, just...

35:59

that everything was awful

36:02

and it feels like, you

36:05

know, well,

36:10

I don't really, I'm sure you have it there.

36:13

So do you know what it is? I kind

36:15

of briefly remember, but. Did

36:18

she say that she feels like Dan's

36:20

back from the grave, like haunting

36:22

her?

36:23

I

36:29

don't know like if they were those

36:32

exact words. I think she was just so,

36:34

so sad and upset that that's

36:38

how it came out.

36:40

On cross June spoke more about

36:42

the breakup of her relationship with Charlie.

36:44

She said they had broken up and two

36:46

months later got back together. She

36:49

then found out that within those two months,

36:52

he had gotten Wendy's boyfriends nanny

36:54

pregnant. She said

36:56

at one point when they were dating, he was

36:59

going out of town and he told her that if the police

37:01

showed up to not answer the door, she

37:04

said she thought that was strange and didn't know

37:06

why the police would come. When

37:09

Catherine was arrested, she agreed that

37:11

Charlie was shocked and surprised.

37:14

She testified that she and Charlie watched

37:16

the special on 2020 together. Isn't

37:19

it true? He actually told

37:21

you they have it completely wrong. Yes.

37:25

He said that Katie worked for him. Right.

37:30

Um, he did

37:32

say like, I think she did work for

37:34

him. Like, he

37:36

also mentioned that she paid for her own breast

37:39

authentication. Right.

37:41

He said she paid for like one

37:43

of them.

37:45

Two employees who worked at the Adelson

37:48

Institute testified that they never saw

37:50

Catherine working there and both

37:52

testified that the Adelson Institute has

37:55

a cleaning service that comes in a

37:57

husband and wife team. Jessica

38:01

Rodriguez is Luis Rivera's girlfriend

38:04

and mother of his daughter. She

38:06

had a falling out with Catherine after Sigfredo

38:08

was arrested. She said she called

38:11

Catherine to ask her about it, but that

38:13

Catherine refused to talk to her. She

38:16

said Luis had told her he was going out of town

38:18

with Sigfredo to get drugs, but

38:20

didn't tell her he was going to commit a murder

38:22

in Tallahassee. She

38:25

described Catherine and Sigfredo coming

38:27

over the day after the murder. She

38:29

said Catherine was at first waiting in the

38:31

car, but after Jessica shouted

38:33

out to her to come see the baby she had just

38:35

given birth to, Catherine came

38:37

inside. She said she

38:39

called Luis and told him they were there with

38:41

a package. It was a plastic

38:44

bag. It looked like a brick of drugs.

38:46

How they wrap up cocaine, she said.

38:49

During the time that Catherine McVannawell

38:51

was coming up to see the baby, did she

38:53

ever acknowledge the package or say

38:56

anything about the package? Yes. What

38:58

did she say about the package? Basically,

39:01

to my knowledge, if I remember correctly,

39:03

did

39:04

you give him the package, but that

39:06

wasn't there. Okay, so

39:09

he hadn't arrived yet when she said the statement. And

39:12

so who is she asking did you give him the package?

39:15

She said Catherine knew everything when it

39:18

came to Sigfredo doing bad things.

39:20

On cross, Jessica

39:22

agreed that she spoke with Luis's legal

39:25

team prior to her interview with investigators.

39:28

So before the call, his

39:31

legal team called you

39:33

and said to you, he's

39:36

looking at the death penalty and other people are

39:38

involved.

39:39

Okay? Yes.

39:41

That was asked

39:43

you

39:43

with a leading question almost, did they ever

39:46

do a money transaction? And you told them yes.

39:48

Correct?

39:49

Correct.

39:50

And then they asked you between Tutor and Casey

39:52

and you said yes.

39:54

Correct.

39:55

It's not a situation where they came to and say, hey,

39:57

do you remember anything?

39:59

No.

40:01

Jessica said investigators also talked

40:03

to her about getting Lewis to cooperate

40:05

and allowed her to talk to him on one

40:08

of the officer's cell phones. Catherine's

40:11

attorney, Tara Kawas, also

40:13

pointed out that Jessica had told investigators

40:16

at the time that Catherine and Sigfredo

40:19

had actually left before

40:21

Lewis got home. If

40:23

that's what I told them, that's what you

40:25

told them.

40:26

Okay?

40:29

You also said that when Katie came into

40:31

the house, that Katie has said Sigfredo

40:33

just picked me up.

40:35

Right? I don't remember. So if it's there, then

40:37

I said it.

40:38

And most importantly, you

40:40

told them that this incident happened

40:43

in August or September of Yes,

40:48

because I had my dates wrong then. Yes, correct.

40:51

She agreed. That's what she said back then,

40:53

but not how she remembers it now.

40:56

She said the following day after she and Lewis

40:58

cooperated, Catherine was arrested.

41:02

Kawas then pointed out additional statements

41:04

she had given to investigators following

41:06

Catherine's arrest.

41:08

You told them that Lewis was at work

41:10

when Sigfredo

41:11

came over. To

41:13

my knowledge at that moment, yes. Okay.

41:16

And you described the package as public

41:19

bag title,

41:20

right?

41:21

Correct. A brick.

41:24

And then you told them that the detectives,

41:26

you told the detectives again that Katie did

41:28

not know what was in the bag.

41:33

I don't remember. So if I said it,

41:35

I mean, I could show it to you. I'm sure

41:37

if it's written down, then yeah.

41:40

After viewing her statement, she agreed.

41:43

That's what she said. Mary

41:45

Hall, a financial investigator, again

41:48

testified as she had in the last trial

41:50

about Catherine's finances. I

41:53

won't go into detail again about what exactly

41:55

she said, but in short, Catherine

41:58

deposited the most cash she had. ever

42:00

had into her bank account right

42:02

after the murder. She then received

42:05

checks from the Adelson Institute from

42:07

October 2014 through May 2016, biweekly checks on the

42:09

amount of $407.58, totaling

42:14

around $17,000. What's more, Hol testified that

42:16

she noticed that many of the

42:24

checks were in sequential order, meaning

42:26

they were written all at once, signed

42:29

by Donna Adelson. Catherine

42:31

also received checks from a dermatology

42:34

office owned by Charlie's front from

42:36

July 2015 through March 2016. On cross, Hol conceded

42:38

that she could not determine

42:44

where the cash Catherine had deposited

42:47

came from.

42:47

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43:24

According to prosecutors, almost two

43:26

years after the murder, all members of

43:28

the conspiracy to murder Danmarke Hell had

43:30

gone on with their lives. Wendy

43:33

Adelson and her kids were living in Miami,

43:35

not far from her family. Catherine

43:38

and Charlie had broken up, although they

43:40

still remained in contact. Catherine

43:42

and Siegfredo were back together, and

43:45

Charlie had dated multiple women since.

43:48

Lewis was in federal prison, serving

43:50

time for another charge unrelated

43:52

to the murder. And it was then

43:55

that investigators decided to put together

43:57

an undercover operation. called

44:00

a bump and then got a warrant

44:02

for a wiretap on both Catherine's

44:04

and Charlie's phones.

44:07

As part of the undercover operation, the

44:09

police needed some events

44:11

that would generate conversation

44:13

between the conspirators of this

44:15

murder. And the plan was

44:18

to send an undercover agent

44:20

posing as somebody on behalf

44:22

of Louis Rivera, who was incarcerated,

44:25

and they wanted him to

44:28

send the undercover agent. They wanted the undercover

44:30

agent to walk up to Donald

44:32

Edelson in the street and try to extort

44:34

an attorney to get there.

44:35

So

44:37

the undercover agent walks

44:39

up to David Edelson, outside of Edelson

44:42

Institute. He

44:44

hands her a piece of paper, and

44:46

the piece of paper has an article on it

44:49

about the murder of Donahue. And

44:51

it has a phone number. And it

44:53

holds the amount of $5,000.

44:57

And the undercover agent calls on Edelson

45:00

that he knows that

45:01

the Edelson's are taking care of

45:04

Catherine by van Wants to pray with her she does.

45:06

And that Rivera wants

45:08

more money to even things

45:10

out. Because if y'all will remember,

45:13

the defendant is still on the Edelson Institute

45:15

payroll. She stays on

45:17

the payroll from about two months after the

45:19

murder, all the way up to May 2016.

45:23

And she's continuing to get money from the Edelson's.

45:26

While Rivera just got the one time payment

45:28

for murder. So that's what the undercover

45:30

agent says. He wants more money to even things

45:32

out, Rivera does.

45:34

Then law enforcement listens

45:37

to see what will happen next.

45:40

Retired FBI agent Oscar

45:42

Jimenez was the agent who approached Donahue.

45:44

The video of this interaction was

45:47

played for the jury. He says to her, my

45:49

brother is incarcerated after he helped

45:51

you with your problem. We wanna

45:54

make sure he's taken care of the way you're

45:56

taking care of Katie and Tuto.

45:59

Donahue takes care of you.

45:59

the paper from him and puts

46:02

it in her bag before walking away. FBI

46:05

Special Agent Pat Sanford

46:07

took the stand while the wiretaps were played

46:10

for the jury. The first one

46:12

was between Donna and Charlie. She

46:14

calls Charlie after being approached and

46:16

tells him what happened. She says,

46:19

this TV is probably about five.

46:22

Charlie says that's crazy and tells

46:24

her he will come down in the afternoon and

46:27

take a look at it.

46:28

We hear Donna Adelson mention a TV.

46:31

This TV is probably about five.

46:34

Is there any significance based

46:36

on your investigation to the term TV?

46:38

Significance to a TV?

46:41

Yes, early on in the investigation, Wendy

46:45

stated to investigate her eyesome during

46:48

the interview that her brother had joked about

46:52

hiring a hitman, but

46:53

the

46:54

TV was cheaper than hiring a hitman.

46:57

And that was the same TV

46:59

that was being repaired at Wendy's residence

47:01

on the day of the homicide?

47:02

Yes, it was.

47:05

When she says this TV is probably

47:07

about five,

47:09

the amount written on the letter was how much

47:11

again? 5,000.

47:13

In this call, we hear Donna

47:16

mention an ex-girlfriend. Does

47:18

she say the name Katie or Catherine Magdanawa?

47:21

No, she doesn't. Is

47:24

Katie or Catherine Magdanawa

47:26

the only ex-girlfriend that Charlie Adelson

47:28

has?

47:28

Objection speculation. Overruled.

47:32

No, it's not.

47:33

Okay. Is it his most recent?

47:36

Is Katie or Catherine Magdanawa this defendant

47:39

the most recent ex-girlfriend of Charlie Adelson

47:41

at this time? No.

47:43

After this call, Charlie then calls

47:45

Catherine and tells her what happened.

47:47

He doesn't call anyone else or

47:50

discuss this with anyone else. The

47:52

next day, Charlie met up with Donna. Then

47:55

later in the week, he and Catherine met up

47:58

at the Dolce Vita restaurant. which

48:00

are referenced early in Part 1. An

48:02

undercover FBI agent was seated near

48:05

them and recorded their conversation.

48:08

As I said before, this tape was introduced

48:10

at Catherine's first trial, but it was really

48:12

difficult to make out exactly what was being

48:15

said. Since then, prosecutors

48:17

had it enhanced, and now a jury

48:19

would be hearing the enhanced version for the

48:22

first time. Much of

48:24

what Catherine says is still hard

48:26

to make out, but Charlie's voice now

48:28

comes off as much clearer.

48:31

In the video, Charlie tells Catherine,

48:34

if they had any evidence, we would have already

48:36

gone to the airport. The problem

48:38

is, even if they bug this, even

48:40

if they bug your home, even if they bug

48:43

your phone, you're still not talking

48:45

about any of this. So my point is,

48:47

how do you get people to talk? You

48:49

throw smoke grenades and then you get all of the

48:51

cockroaches to run out. He

48:54

continues on and says, listen,

48:56

if that's what it was, it's very

48:58

smart, because that means my mom hasn't

49:00

told my dad anything. My

49:02

mom knows my dad is gonna flip out when he

49:05

finds out, but my mom hasn't told

49:07

my dad anything. He

49:09

tells Catherine that this person who gave

49:11

his mom the piece of paper probably

49:14

knew her routine and knows who

49:16

she is. He then goes on

49:18

about how they approached his mom and not

49:20

his dad, because his dad might be

49:22

someone who's carrying a gun. Catherine

49:25

can be heard saying, I have mine

49:27

right next to my, and then Charlie

49:29

says, you carrying on you right now?

49:32

I mean, I'm gonna start carrying one on my back.

49:35

Like the holster that fits in your back,

49:37

if someone comes up to me, they'd better be ready

49:40

to shoot, cuz I'm gonna shoot him. Someone

49:42

comes up to me asking for money in my house?

49:46

Catherine says something that's hard to hear,

49:48

and then Charlie continues. Yeah,

49:51

and when the, guess what? When the fucking

49:53

police show up and there's a doctor, there's

49:55

an oral surgeon standing there with a

49:57

dead gang member in his fucking driveway.

50:00

They're not going to come down too hard on me and

50:03

I'm not going to talk anyway. I don't know.

50:05

I don't trust them. He discusses

50:08

whether the man who approached his mom may have

50:10

been a cop or a gang member. As

50:12

for whether it's a cop, he says, if

50:15

you're going to charge me, charge me. Charlie

50:18

then talks about how police have to put

50:21

the person at the scene. They have to

50:23

prove the person committed the crime. He

50:25

says, let's say you just sat in

50:27

the car, right? And then I go ahead and I

50:29

commit a crime. And then I go, but

50:32

your DNA is in the car. He

50:34

told her that she has nothing to do with him

50:36

than robbing the Burger King. Charlie

50:40

tells her the guy said the name Tuto,

50:42

that Tuto is incarcerated now.

50:45

I don't even know who the fuck that is, he says.

50:48

A little later, he says, they didn't

50:50

mention my name, which makes me think that

50:53

they don't, these people only

50:55

know part of the story or they think

50:57

they know part of the story. Then

51:00

he asks her, let me ask you a question.

51:03

When everybody was there the next day, did

51:05

any of you take any money? It's not

51:08

like you're driving around in a Bentley, cruising

51:10

around in a mega yacht, you know? He

51:13

says, I wish that it was a cop

51:15

playing games. Why didn't they know

51:17

it was me? If it was a cop playing

51:19

games or an investigator playing games

51:22

and they didn't mention me, they did

51:24

mention your son's girlfriend, Katie,

51:26

not mentioned me at all. I think

51:28

if they thought I had something to do with it, they

51:31

would find me and they'd talk to me. Like

51:33

go talk to the person who's involved, not

51:35

fucking people who aren't involved. And

51:38

I'm not involved. But if they knew, if

51:40

they knew our, your

51:42

relationship is with me, not my family,

51:45

like I dated you, not my mom.

51:48

He also references Catherine working at

51:50

the office. Your

51:53

connection to my family is not my mom. Like

51:55

yeah, you work for the office now because the checks

51:58

are from there. And that's just because you. You come

52:00

in and work on the weekends, which I trust that

52:02

you're doing because I'm never there when I see you.

52:05

You tell me you do it and the place looks clean

52:07

so you get your checks. You clean up, whatever.

52:11

The conversation continues for about 40

52:14

minutes. Charlie is doing the majority

52:16

of the talking. In

52:18

the following days, more phone calls

52:20

were recorded from Charlie's phone and

52:23

Catherine's. In many, Catherine

52:25

and Charlie can be heard talking in what sounds

52:28

like code, referencing rental

52:30

properties when talking about what sounds

52:32

like the blackmail attempt. At

52:34

one point, there's confusion over what the phone

52:36

number on the piece of paper is. They

52:39

use dollar amounts when referring to

52:41

it, instead of just numbers. Catherine

52:45

also calls Sig Freidow and talks

52:47

to him numerous times about the blackmail.

52:50

In what appears to be an attempt to relay

52:52

the phone number written on the paper to him, she

52:55

also speaks in dollar amounts.

52:59

The amount that I gave you on a piece of

53:01

paper, I

53:03

don't know if it's $60 or $57.75

53:05

or $65.7.

53:11

The last four digits of the phone number

53:13

on the paper were 6570.

53:18

In another phone call, Catherine relays

53:20

the entire phone number, but refers

53:22

to it as a real estate listing. Sig

53:25

Freidow tells her he will call it. At

53:27

another point, he tells her he will take care

53:29

of this problem and the less you

53:32

know, the better. After

53:34

another meeting between Charlie and Catherine,

53:37

Catherine texts Sig Freidow and says she needs to

53:39

ask him about something else, to

53:41

which Sig Freidow replies, whatever

53:44

is going on with you and your homie is your business.

53:46

You guys work that shit out. Don't text

53:49

me. Another conversation

53:51

between Catherine and Charlie gets heated,

53:54

with Charlie telling her to call the number.

53:57

Catherine tells him she tried calling the number he

53:59

gave her.

53:59

and that it wasn't a working number. We

54:02

have to get back to it.

54:05

You have the number, I think

54:07

you said it. I have the fucking

54:09

number. Okay, good. Call

54:11

it. They say I have the number. There

54:14

is not his number. Good. That

54:18

is not what I call the fucking number. Okay.

54:22

You don't need to call it. That's

54:24

a fucking A. A

54:26

fucking fucking A.

54:29

According to Agent Sanford, although

54:31

Katherine told Charlie she had called

54:33

the number, she had not.

54:36

Charlie does end up calling the number and

54:38

speaking with the undercover agent. The

54:41

agent tells him, we know what's

54:43

going on and Tato needs to be

54:45

taken care of. Do the right thing.

54:47

No more fucking around. This thing

54:49

ain't going away. Charlie

54:52

says he will call him back. In

54:55

another call to Sig Freidow, Katherine says,

54:58

they said my name and your name. It's

55:00

getting too detailed. In

55:03

a final call between Charlie and Donna,

55:05

Charlie assures her that everything is taken care

55:08

of and that no one has answered the number.

55:11

He tells her she has to find something else

55:13

to worry about now. After

55:16

Agent Sanford's testimony, the state then

55:18

rested their case, paving the

55:20

way for Katherine Magbanawad to once

55:22

again take the stand, trying to convince

55:25

the jury that she was not involved

55:27

in the murder of Dan Markell.

55:36

Did you have anything to do

55:38

with the murder of Dan Markell? No,

55:40

ma'am.

55:42

Did you know anything about the murder

55:44

of Dan Markell? No, ma'am. Would

55:46

you have ever assisted anyone in

55:49

having a father of two killed?

55:51

No, ma'am.

55:53

Would you assist anyone in having anybody killed? No,

55:55

ma'am.

55:56

Katherine Magbanawad told the jury that she

55:59

knew nothing about the murder of Dan Markell. plot to murder Dan

56:01

Markell. She said she knew Charlie's

56:03

sister Wendy had kids, but that

56:05

was about it. In June 2014, over

56:09

Father's Day weekend, she and her friend

56:11

Yindra went to the beach and met up with

56:13

Wendy and Charlie. A photo

56:15

of Wendy, Catherine, and Yindra at the

56:18

beach had been shown to the jury during Wendy's

56:20

prior testimony. That was the

56:22

second time Catherine said she ever hung out

56:24

with Wendy. She said Wendy never

56:26

talked about her divorce or about relocation

56:29

with her kids. She said she had no

56:31

idea about any of that. She

56:34

was asked if she ever took Sigfredo to

56:36

rent a car in June or July 2014, and

56:39

she said no. As

56:41

for why her cell phone records would show her

56:44

in the area, she said one of her best friends

56:46

lives over there. When asked

56:48

if she ever used to talk to Charlie about Sigfredo,

56:51

she said yes. She responded

56:53

that when Charlie was saying on the recordings

56:56

that he didn't know who Tutto was, he

56:58

was lying. She then

57:00

described the confrontation between

57:02

Sigfredo, her, and Charlie

57:05

as she and Charlie were returning from going

57:07

jet skiing. This was on

57:09

July 1st, just weeks before

57:12

Dan's murder.

57:13

As we were pulling out of like the parking

57:16

lot, we were going to go down the

57:18

way like one of the roads

57:20

and Sigfredo cut us

57:22

off and just jumped out of the car and

57:24

started screaming in the middle of the street.

57:26

So, so

57:27

you're on a roadway. He

57:30

blocked in. Do you immediately recognize

57:32

that that's Sigfredo's car?

57:35

It was fast. He jumped out of the car and

57:37

like stood in the middle of the street, so I knew it was him.

57:40

Now describe for the jury, because he's

57:42

not a small guy, Sigfredo, right? No, ma'am.

57:45

Okay, he's a lot taller than you are. Yes, ma'am. Okay,

57:47

and at that time was he, you know, working out or?

57:50

Yeah, he was, he was fit. He what,

57:52

stood up in front of the car and what

57:54

did he do? He just started screaming

57:57

in the middle of the street, but I didn't know what

57:59

he was saying. Could you hear what he was saying?

58:01

No ma'am. Were the windows up? Yes.

58:04

All right. And do you know if he was screaming

58:06

in English, Spanish? I don't know what he

58:08

was saying. Now when you see him,

58:11

what was your reaction?

58:13

I was shocked. What

58:15

was Tarek's reaction? Oh, he was petrified.

58:19

She said they were able to drive away.

58:21

But later she learned that Siegfredo then

58:23

made that call to Harvey Adelson's voicemail.

58:28

Adelson's attorney, Tara Kawas, pointed

58:30

out that July 18th is an important

58:32

date in the case, and Catherine agreed. But

58:35

she said it didn't stick out to her back then, and

58:37

that she can't even be sure that that's the

58:39

night where she spent by Charlie's. If

58:42

the phone records show that though, she said

58:44

she wouldn't disagree. And

58:46

if you were there that night,

58:48

does anything stand out to you about

58:50

Charlie's behavior?

58:52

No ma'am.

58:53

Okay. Did he ever to you seem

58:56

weird or nervous or say that you were sick?

58:58

Did anything stand out to you that night? No.

59:01

All right. Did Charles Adelson give

59:03

you $100,000

59:04

in Staples

59:06

cash

59:07

to then go and give to the father of your

59:10

kids who you were not with

59:11

the next day? No ma'am. If

59:14

Charles Adelson had said to you, here's $100,000

59:16

in Staples money, what would you do?

59:20

What would be your first question to him?

59:22

Why are you giving me that?

59:24

Kowas then asked if she really worked

59:26

at the Adelson Institute.

59:28

Were you working at the Adelson Institute? No

59:31

ma'am.

59:31

Okay. Who gave

59:33

you that job? Charlie.

59:35

Okay. Explain to the

59:38

jury why you asked him to put you on the payroll.

59:41

Well my son, he had a disability,

59:43

he has a disability, and I needed to get insurance

59:46

for him. And the jobs that I was having

59:48

didn't have insurance, so it was so

59:50

high. So I asked him to do me

59:52

that favor to put me in

59:55

his office so that I could have

59:58

a job on Staples.

59:59

Now, you didn't work for Donna Adelson?

1:00:02

No, ma'am. You didn't work for Harvey Adelson? No,

1:00:04

ma'am. Okay.

1:00:05

What would you do for Charles Adelson

1:00:08

to get that bi-weekly paycheck that you

1:00:10

were getting?

1:00:11

Well, I was more like his assistant. I

1:00:15

helped him get for his website

1:00:18

and set up those appointments for him

1:00:20

and

1:00:20

just odd things, odd jobs. Would

1:00:24

it be a situation where he asked you to do something

1:00:26

and you'd just do it? Yes, ma'am. You didn't have

1:00:28

a set schedule? No, ma'am. Of what

1:00:30

your duties for him entailed,

1:00:32

right? No, ma'am. And

1:00:35

you wouldn't agree to be put on the

1:00:37

payroll if you were involved in a homicide, right?

1:00:40

No, ma'am. Because that's just stupid. Yes,

1:00:42

ma'am.

1:00:44

Name some of the things that he...you said the website,

1:00:47

you know, any other odd things? I've done the rental. He

1:00:49

had like rental places and I've

1:00:52

had a sentence before and collect actually rent before

1:00:54

for

1:00:56

the tenants

1:01:00

and

1:01:00

don't really remember much. It's been

1:01:02

so long. But it was a situation

1:01:05

where it's just, hey, if he calls

1:01:07

me and he asks me for something, I'm just going to do it. Yes,

1:01:09

ma'am. Okay. She said she

1:01:11

would lie to Charlie and say she went to the

1:01:13

office to clean but that she didn't.

1:01:16

He didn't ask you to do anything weird. No,

1:01:18

ma'am. Like get someone to get

1:01:20

a hitman to commit

1:01:21

a murder of his ex-husband. No, ma'am. No,

1:01:24

ma'am.

1:01:24

Okay. If your son asks you, you

1:01:26

knew a hitman. If

1:01:29

I knew one... If you knew a hitman or knew someone

1:01:31

that could commit a murder for him, would

1:01:33

you stay in a relationship with someone like that? No,

1:01:36

ma'am. Would

1:01:37

you have called the police? Yes, ma'am.

1:01:39

She testified that sometimes when Sigfredo

1:01:41

would come into a large sum of money, he would

1:01:44

give it to her.

1:01:45

Did you ask him where the money came from? No,

1:01:48

ma'am.

1:01:49

Why? It's probably something illegal. Okay.

1:01:52

Yeah. And you just didn't want to know

1:01:54

anything about it, right? I did not care. Okay.

1:01:57

And why didn't

1:01:57

you care? Because I needed the money for the kids.

1:02:00

In 2019, prior

1:02:02

to the first trial, prosecutor Kepelman

1:02:05

and Jason Newland, an investigator

1:02:07

with the state attorney's office, went

1:02:09

to the jail to meet with Catherine.

1:02:12

Were they allowed to ask you whatever they wanted? Whatever

1:02:15

they wanted. And you answered all

1:02:17

their questions? Yes, ma'am. They just didn't

1:02:19

like your answer? They did not like my answer.

1:02:22

Okay. And what, it's because

1:02:24

you said you had nothing to do and didn't know anything

1:02:26

about the murder of Dan Markel? Yes, ma'am.

1:02:29

Okay. They keep saying that doesn't make sense,

1:02:31

but you haven't heard anything in this

1:02:33

case that's not Luis Rivera that contradicts

1:02:35

what you've been saying. Yes, ma'am.

1:02:38

As for the Dolce Vita video, she

1:02:40

said she remembers Charlie telling her that

1:02:42

someone had approached his mom, but she

1:02:44

can't remember exactly what he said.

1:02:47

From what you can remember, was

1:02:50

he giving you scenarios?

1:02:52

That's how he always talks. He talks in different

1:02:54

scenarios

1:02:56

on and on and on. And

1:02:59

why were you, did he mention

1:03:01

Tallahassee?

1:03:02

No, ma'am. Did he mention a murder?

1:03:05

No, ma'am. Did he mention Dan Markel? No,

1:03:07

ma'am. Did he mention Wendy's

1:03:09

ex-husband? No, ma'am. Okay.

1:03:11

You heard that they said, oh, that he had said this has

1:03:14

been on the news and everywhere. Had

1:03:16

he said murder to you,

1:03:18

would you have remembered him saying that? Yes,

1:03:21

ma'am. Would have stuck

1:03:22

out. Was it unusual for

1:03:24

Charlie to be

1:03:27

nervous that the government was investigating

1:03:29

him?

1:03:30

Would it be normal? Yes. Yeah,

1:03:32

he's always catch bad about everything.

1:03:36

She said she lied to Charlie about calling

1:03:38

the number because she didn't feel like it was

1:03:40

something she should have to do.

1:03:42

So you had asked

1:03:43

Cifredo to call the number for

1:03:45

you. Yes, ma'am. And why did you ask

1:03:48

Cifredo to call? Because

1:03:49

they were mentioning our name. Okay. Would

1:03:52

you have ever asked Cifredo to do anything if they

1:03:54

had only mentioned your name?

1:03:56

No, ma'am. Because you

1:03:57

wouldn't want your name. Why would I? Exactly.

1:04:00

Explain. Why

1:04:02

would I involve them in it? Okay,

1:04:04

you probably would have called then if they had just said your name.

1:04:07

Yes, ma'am.

1:04:08

All right. She said she couldn't recall what she had told

1:04:10

Sigfredo about it. She said

1:04:12

there are so many phone calls the state

1:04:15

didn't play. She described why

1:04:17

by the last call they played, she

1:04:19

was so angry at Charlie. You're

1:04:22

screaming at him to call the FBI. Explain

1:04:25

to them what point did you reach there

1:04:27

with him?

1:04:28

With Charlie. That's what I said.

1:04:31

He kept on and on and

1:04:33

kept talking about this over and over and over.

1:04:35

So I was like, just call the cops, call the FBI. Why

1:04:37

are they harassing? But like I told

1:04:40

you the whole time, since I don't know

1:04:42

when they had mentioned about a brother and Tato

1:04:45

and all that stuff. So I thought it had to do

1:04:47

with drugs

1:04:49

that or somebody that's trying to extort money

1:04:51

from his family, which is like from

1:04:54

that his family, somebody that's out

1:04:56

on my own.

1:04:58

So you were trying to investigate

1:05:00

that maybe it was possibly someone

1:05:02

that was linked to Sigfredo. Who

1:05:05

knew you were dating a rich

1:05:07

ex-boyfriend. So

1:05:10

because of Sigfredo's background, it didn't seem

1:05:12

that unusual to you that someone might have

1:05:15

done that.

1:05:16

No, ma'am. All right. And who Sigfredo

1:05:18

used to hang around with. No, ma'am.

1:05:20

She said after Sigfredo was arrested

1:05:22

and after police had come to her door

1:05:25

wanting to talk to her, she packed

1:05:27

up and moved to be closer to her brother. She

1:05:30

said they weren't sure exactly what Sigfredo

1:05:32

had been involved in. Shortly

1:05:35

after a special about the case on the TV

1:05:37

show 2020 was aired. She

1:05:39

said when she watched it, she freaked out because

1:05:42

they had footage of her under surveillance and

1:05:44

she had no idea she was being watched

1:05:46

by police. The show portrayed

1:05:48

her as a middle person in the homicide.

1:05:52

Then she was arrested. She said she had sent

1:05:54

a message to the Tallahassee Police Department

1:05:57

through her attorney that if there was

1:05:59

ever a warrant. out for her arrest, she

1:06:01

would turn herself in. But

1:06:03

to her surprise, as she was leaving a shopping

1:06:06

plaza, she was stopped by police.

1:06:09

Swarms of like guys just had all

1:06:11

these guns pointed at me telling me stop

1:06:14

the cars, stop the car. So I put up

1:06:16

my hands because at that time there was a lot of shootings

1:06:18

that was happening like, so

1:06:21

the officers would like just shoot if they thought

1:06:23

that you were, you know, like you were doing something.

1:06:26

So I put up my hands and they're like, put it on par,

1:06:28

put it on par. So I parked the car and then

1:06:30

I got out and I was like, that's when I was so

1:06:33

nervous that I just really

1:06:35

urinated on myself.

1:06:37

She said she has tried cooperating with

1:06:39

the state, but that she wasn't telling them

1:06:41

what they wanted to hear. Did

1:06:43

you know that they wanted to arrest Charles Adelson? Yes,

1:06:46

ma'am. All right.

1:06:47

Charles Adelson has been free up

1:06:49

until a month ago. Yes, ma'am.

1:06:52

All right. Back in 2019 when I asked you,

1:06:54

do

1:06:55

you think he's guilty? Yes, ma'am. What

1:06:57

did you say? After seeing everything,

1:06:59

yes.

1:07:00

To this day, do you think he's guilty? Yes,

1:07:03

ma'am. Do you believe that he should be prosecuted

1:07:05

for his involvement in the murder of Dan Markel? Yes,

1:07:08

ma'am. Okay.

1:07:10

Do you think he should come forward and let the jury

1:07:12

know that you had nothing to do with this? Yes, ma'am.

1:07:15

That's why I just don't understand

1:07:17

why I'm still

1:07:18

doing this right now when he

1:07:21

just got arrested a month ago. And

1:07:23

I said on the last trial, well,

1:07:25

after seeing all of this, you should arrest him

1:07:28

and still nothing until, I guess,

1:07:31

I don't know, it's the Dolce Vito video,

1:07:34

which I already testified to

1:07:36

and I already said exactly what

1:07:38

was happening to

1:07:39

my recollection of that day. And it took

1:07:41

him three years to enhance a video

1:07:44

that I testified for three years ago.

1:07:46

Prosecutor Sarah Dugan did the cross-examination

1:07:49

for the state. She immediately started

1:07:52

questioning Catherine's claims from direct

1:07:54

about being Charlie's personal assistant

1:07:57

starting in September 2014 when she We

1:08:00

started receiving checks.

1:08:02

And he had just broken up with you two months

1:08:04

before that.

1:08:06

Like I said, like I was telling

1:08:09

Ms. Kowas that I never

1:08:11

had like a definitive date when

1:08:12

we stopped like talking. Sometime

1:08:15

between the murder though and when you became his personal

1:08:17

assistant, he broke up with you though. That was your

1:08:19

testimony? Like it was

1:08:21

dwindling down like our relationship.

1:08:25

Meaning that he was ghosting you. That's

1:08:27

what your attorney said in her opening statement.

1:08:30

Okay. Why would he want you working as his

1:08:32

personal assistant if he was ghosting you?

1:08:35

Well, I told you that he need, I needed that favor

1:08:37

for the insurance purposes. That's why

1:08:40

I put that I was working for him.

1:08:42

Prosecutor Dugan pointed out that Catherine

1:08:45

had asked Charlie for that favor on

1:08:47

June 24th, 2014, according

1:08:50

to her text messages. She told

1:08:52

Catherine this was in between the June

1:08:54

trip and the July trip, but she

1:08:56

didn't start working for him until September

1:08:59

after she said he had ghosted her. Dugan

1:09:03

asked what exactly she did for Charlie.

1:09:06

Catherine told her all she can recall is that she set

1:09:08

up an appointment with her friend who was going

1:09:10

to work on Charlie's website for him. Prosecutor

1:09:14

Dugan displayed a text message Catherine

1:09:16

had sent to Charlie in October, 2014, where

1:09:20

she asks how work is and his love

1:09:22

life. Then another text

1:09:25

from October, 2015 says,

1:09:27

I was going to text you, but I never know if

1:09:29

you're on vacation or not at work.

1:09:33

In December, 2015, she texts, so how's work? How's

1:09:37

your office? You

1:09:39

were working as a personal assistant, making

1:09:42

that money, only set up the one appointment

1:09:44

that you can think of, and

1:09:46

you're having to check in with him. How's

1:09:48

work? How's your love life? What's going

1:09:50

on with you?

1:09:51

You're not keeping up with his schedule either, are you?

1:09:54

As I said, I didn't have his definitive schedule

1:09:56

of what he does. He needs help

1:09:58

and he needs to text me.

1:09:59

needs me to do something he'll text me and then

1:10:02

you do something. Well you also said that you helped him with

1:10:04

tenants of

1:10:04

his properties. Yes. What did you do

1:10:06

with the properties?

1:10:08

He had a couple properties at that time.

1:10:10

I don't remember what

1:10:12

location or where it is, but

1:10:14

he had asked me

1:10:17

to collect like the yeah

1:10:19

the tenants payment, the monthly payment. And

1:10:23

like they had like washers and dryers there too

1:10:25

and like you'd have to open it up and like get like

1:10:27

whatever coins are in there.

1:10:29

Okay so you collected rent from these tenants?

1:10:33

Yes. Prosecutor

1:10:34

Dugan had her look at a transcript

1:10:37

from testimony she gave at her first

1:10:39

trial. When you were asked

1:10:41

in October of 2019 would you be responsible

1:10:44

for collecting rent? You said initially he wanted

1:10:46

me to try to collect rent, but those tenants

1:10:48

were so difficult so I just didn't do it.

1:10:51

Isn't that true? Yes ma'am. Okay

1:10:55

so you didn't actually collect rent? No

1:10:58

you wanted me to collect it, well obviously

1:11:00

here it says that I didn't. Right and

1:11:02

today though you're saying that you did. I

1:11:05

said you wanted to he wanted me to collect

1:11:08

I don't even remember what I just said. Right I just

1:11:10

asked you if you collected rent and you said you

1:11:12

did and that was a lie wasn't it? It's

1:11:14

just that I didn't in this testimony.

1:11:16

Okay and if you said that you collected

1:11:19

rent from him today and you

1:11:21

previously said that you did not collect rent

1:11:23

from his tenants,

1:11:24

he wanted you to do it but you never did it that's a lie

1:11:27

right?

1:11:29

I should have told you to refresh my memory instead

1:11:32

of saying that. Okay was that a yes? Yes ma'am.

1:11:34

Prosecutor Dugan asked her if Charlie

1:11:36

did that favor for her because he was trying

1:11:39

to keep her happy after she did

1:11:41

a really big favor for him in July 2014.

1:11:45

Catherine said no.

1:11:47

Dugan then displayed another one of Catherine's

1:11:49

texts to Charlie from April 2015

1:11:52

where she says I know you're busy

1:11:55

every time I speak to you it's like you have a little

1:11:57

attitude and even though I know you're

1:11:59

overwhelmed with everything that you're doing, it's

1:12:01

rude how you sound. Then

1:12:04

she says, next time, don't

1:12:06

be such a dick to someone that has done

1:12:08

something for you.

1:12:10

I mean, you weren't doing much of anything for him, right?

1:12:12

He was the one giving you all this money.

1:12:15

And I told you was like, I did the

1:12:17

whole purpose for that was for the insurance

1:12:19

for my children. I know, but my point

1:12:22

is

1:12:22

he hadn't done anything for you. You were the

1:12:24

one, he was the one paying

1:12:26

you the money. You weren't doing anything for him. He

1:12:29

was doing everything for you, right?

1:12:30

He was doing that as a favor

1:12:33

for me. Right, so what are you talking about here that's

1:12:35

something that you've done for him? Do you have the

1:12:37

rest of the text? Because that's just like a portion

1:12:39

of the paper. It doesn't say that, do you? You're

1:12:41

just talking about he's being mean

1:12:43

to you and you're saying, don't be such a dick to someone who's

1:12:46

done something for you.

1:12:47

I don't know what I was referring to. Okay.

1:12:50

She agreed that Charlie also offered

1:12:52

to send her and her mom on a cruise and

1:12:54

would occasionally give her cash.

1:12:57

Prosecutor Dugan displayed text messages

1:12:59

where Catherine would ask him for money. And

1:13:01

then a couple of days later, the exact amount

1:13:04

she asked for would then be deposited into

1:13:06

her bank account. If that's

1:13:08

what the records show, Catherine said. In

1:13:11

August, 2014, she deposited about $13,000 into

1:13:15

her account. Catherine said she doesn't

1:13:18

recall where that came from, whether it was something

1:13:20

Siegfredo gave her or whether she was working

1:13:22

somewhere at the time.

1:13:24

No, ma'am, when I look at the records that you

1:13:26

guys have, it's crazy

1:13:29

even when I see how

1:13:31

you guys put it and make it

1:13:34

out to be like on my account. Wouldn't

1:13:36

that be a memorable thing for you of

1:13:38

all of the sudden? Exactly. You got over twice

1:13:41

the amount of money you would normally have? That

1:13:43

would definitely be memorable.

1:13:45

As for Club Fate, one of the clubs

1:13:47

she said she worked at that would help explain

1:13:49

her cash deposits, she maintained

1:13:52

that she was making good money there in tips,

1:13:55

despite what the club owner, Ramsey Neighbor

1:13:57

had testified to.

1:13:59

agreed that when Charlie told her about the man

1:14:02

who approached his mom, she agreed to

1:14:04

call the number.

1:14:06

We're asked by Charlie Adelson to call this

1:14:08

number on the article. You

1:14:11

got someone else to do that for you,

1:14:13

right?

1:14:13

Yeah, I asked six freighter to do it. So you

1:14:16

coincidentally get the

1:14:18

person who was the shooter

1:14:21

of this crime that Charlie Adelson is being

1:14:23

blackmailed. I mean, I was just asking

1:14:25

six freighter to call the number. Okay. And just coincidentally,

1:14:28

he also, he's the shooter.

1:14:30

I didn't even know about any of that until the trial.

1:14:32

Okay. So that is a coincidence. In

1:14:36

your opinion, I believe so. All right.

1:14:38

Um, I

1:14:40

know I don't think it's a coincidence. I'm saying

1:14:42

you're saying that that's a coincidence. You didn't actually

1:14:44

have anything to do with it.

1:14:46

No, ma'am.

1:14:49

And you didn't actually know what it was about

1:14:51

or who you were getting to call for that reason,

1:14:53

anything. No, ma'am.

1:14:56

Other than the fact that they said Katie

1:14:59

and Tuzo.

1:15:00

In many of the wiretap recordings, Charlie

1:15:03

tells Catherine that he doesn't know who Tuto

1:15:05

is.

1:15:06

Prosecutor Dugan asked why she

1:15:08

didn't tell him. When Charlie

1:15:10

Adelson told you that his mom said it has

1:15:13

to do with Tuto and Toto, why didn't

1:15:15

you say, you know exactly who that

1:15:17

is, Charlie? Tuto

1:15:19

is six freighter.

1:15:21

No, he was saying it in different ways.

1:15:24

And then that's why

1:15:25

I've never corrected him. I know, like they've

1:15:27

asked me about that before. I didn't know that I had to

1:15:29

correct him and say, well, you know him, you know,

1:15:32

you know the father of my kids. Like,

1:15:34

why are you saying the name different? And he

1:15:36

said that though multiple times. He said, I don't even

1:15:38

know who Tuto is. He said that on the phone and he said that

1:15:40

in Dolce Vita, didn't he?

1:15:42

On the phone, I think

1:15:44

I heard it. But on the Dolce Vita, I don't remember.

1:15:47

And you just though you just didn't correct

1:15:49

him, just didn't ask why he didn't know who Tuto

1:15:53

was. That's the whole reason why

1:15:55

you've been in here because I wasn't asking the

1:15:57

questions.

1:15:59

She said she found us.

1:15:59

Dan Markell was murdered when Siegfriedo

1:16:02

got arrested. Prosecutor Dugan

1:16:05

questioned how that never came up in all

1:16:07

of her communications with Charlie.

1:16:09

He never mentioned Dan Markell. He

1:16:11

never mentioned Tallahassee. He never mentioned

1:16:14

anything about a murder.

1:16:15

Those things would stick out. Right.

1:16:18

I would think that they would.

1:16:20

Catherine said she had no idea what Charlie

1:16:22

was talking about during their meeting at Dolce

1:16:24

Vita, when at one point he tells

1:16:26

her that if someone goes to the cops, they're

1:16:28

going to be asked if they have evidence.

1:16:31

And that when he tells you if this

1:16:34

person

1:16:34

went to the cops, they're going to be asked, you

1:16:36

know, well, where's the weapon? Did you witness it? No,

1:16:39

you just heard a rumor. Well, that's worth zero. You

1:16:42

have to get them on a wire. You have to get the person to

1:16:44

confess. Outside of that, there's no evidence. That's

1:16:46

what you heard, right? Um, parts

1:16:48

of it. Yes, ma'am. Okay. And

1:16:51

he's saying, right, that if you guys all keep quiet,

1:16:53

no one's going to have any evidence of you. Right.

1:16:57

And he was talking about, I

1:16:59

didn't know what he was talking, he's saying scenarios

1:17:02

over and over. Why is he talking to this about,

1:17:04

about this with you? I don't know. What

1:17:07

is he saying the cops aren't going to have evidence of?

1:17:09

I have no idea. You had no clue. No.

1:17:12

And you didn't ask either. Did you? That's

1:17:14

your time. I don't remember what we were talking about. Or if I

1:17:17

asked my mean, I'm really, I hear myself responding,

1:17:20

but right. But you, you did say that

1:17:22

you never asked why the cops would be running

1:17:24

this undercover investigation. Right.

1:17:27

I believe so. Okay.

1:17:29

At another point in the Dolce Vita video,

1:17:32

Charlie gave her examples about how it doesn't

1:17:34

matter if you were in a car that was then

1:17:37

used in a crime. Catherine said

1:17:39

she didn't know what that was about either.

1:17:42

He is trying to ease your mind because

1:17:44

the car that Garcia and Rivera

1:17:46

rented to drive up here in Kill Dan

1:17:49

Markell had been on the news, right?

1:17:51

I don't know of that.

1:17:53

You were nervous that police might be able to

1:17:55

connect them to having rented it or been in that

1:17:57

car.

1:17:59

Weren't you?

1:17:59

I never even knew it.

1:18:01

You never knew that the car was on the news. I

1:18:04

Knew from when sick

1:18:06

Fredo got arrested. I think they put a picture

1:18:09

of that

1:18:09

of the Prius

1:18:11

He was trying to tell you in that video that

1:18:13

it doesn't matter if they rented

1:18:15

a certain car Or were seen in a certain car

1:18:18

police have to be able to put them at the scene of the crime

1:18:20

at the time

1:18:21

Right. That's what he had said

1:18:24

on the on the video, but I don't know what he

1:18:26

was talking about So he's just talking

1:18:28

about that. You have no idea giving different

1:18:30

scenarios

1:18:32

Prosecutor Dugan asked her if she was

1:18:34

mad at sick Fredo and Charlie

1:18:37

Are you mad at Garcia

1:18:39

and Charlie for doing this

1:18:42

and you're innocent and you're having an answer for it?

1:18:45

Am I mad at them? Yeah. Yeah,

1:18:47

I've been upset

1:18:49

if you were mad at Garcia. I mean just Not

1:18:52

long ago just this month. You said on a recorded

1:18:54

call to him. I can't talk

1:18:55

to you I can't touch you. I can't see you. I can't feel

1:18:58

you and you were crying about it

1:18:59

Yeah, he's the father of my kids. I'm gonna

1:19:01

love him forever

1:19:03

Prosecutor Dugan then went over all

1:19:05

of the coincidences one last

1:19:07

time and

1:19:08

this $17,000 cash

1:19:11

bike during the six weeks after the murder

1:19:13

being put on the Aydlson payroll Even

1:19:15

though you didn't collect rent you made the one

1:19:18

appointment your four thousand dollar breast

1:19:20

augmentation All of that within the

1:19:22

two months of the murder.

1:19:23

Those are just all coincidences to it You

1:19:25

didn't have anything to do with this. The money had

1:19:27

nothing to do with anything that you did I've

1:19:30

explained everything already. Okay

1:19:33

All the favors that Charlie did for you

1:19:35

after you and him broke up the

1:19:38

trips Nothing. Nothing

1:19:40

with that had to do anything with the murder. That was just a coincidence

1:19:42

to just him to being nice

1:19:48

The fact that he called you out of all

1:19:50

of his ex-girlfriends after his mom just said

1:19:52

an ex-girlfriend was mentioned That's

1:19:55

a coincidence, too

1:19:59

You committed a

1:20:01

murder for your boyfriend.

1:20:03

That's also just a coincidence. You didn't have

1:20:05

anything to do with it?

1:20:07

I didn't have anything to do with it.

1:20:10

I mean, there's

1:20:11

just some pretty unbelievable coincidences,

1:20:14

right? Objection and profit.

1:20:15

That's sustained. Okay. You either have

1:20:17

the worst luck or you did this, right? Objection

1:20:20

and profit questions. Sustained.

1:20:24

Garcia would never do anything to help Charlie

1:20:26

Eagleson. Woody.

1:20:29

I wouldn't think that, but with everything that's been,

1:20:32

that's all in the evidence and stuff, I

1:20:34

mean, looks pretty bad. And

1:20:36

you said in 2019, he would never do anything.

1:20:39

I did say that because I would never think that

1:20:41

they would like each other in

1:20:43

any way or do favors for each other. Okay.

1:20:46

I see why I'm in the middle. I'm smack

1:20:48

in the middle. I see it. That's why I'm fighting

1:20:50

for my life.

1:20:52

And so you did say Garcia would never do anything

1:20:54

to help Charlie Eagleson.

1:20:56

In my 2019 testimony, yes, I did

1:20:58

mention that. Great.

1:21:00

And in opening, your attorney said that there

1:21:02

was definitive proof of the link between Garcia

1:21:05

and Charlie. What is it? What

1:21:09

did my attorney say? No. What's the link

1:21:11

between Garcia and Charlie?

1:21:14

That they knew each other or they spoke to each other.

1:21:17

How?

1:21:18

I don't know. Apparently everything's

1:21:20

being done behind my back. That's why. That's

1:21:23

all. Thank you.

1:21:25

In her closing arguments, prosecutor

1:21:27

Georgia Kappelman meticulously went

1:21:29

through all the evidence against not only

1:21:31

Catherine, but Sigfredo Lewis

1:21:34

and even Charlie as well. She

1:21:36

brought up how Catherine testified that she

1:21:39

didn't know what Charlie was talking about on

1:21:41

the Dolce Vita video and how she

1:21:43

claimed prosecutors were taking it

1:21:45

all out of context.

1:21:47

Because she's involved. I mean, there is no other

1:21:50

explanation. I'm

1:21:53

not taking it out of context.

1:21:55

There's only one context. The

1:21:57

alternate context is I don't

1:21:59

know.

1:21:59

I can't offer any context.

1:22:02

I can't tell you what I was thinking. I can't tell you why

1:22:04

I did what I did. Because

1:22:05

I have no memory of doing it, no

1:22:07

memory of saying it, no memory of being

1:22:10

there, can't

1:22:10

offer you nothing.

1:22:12

Prosecutor Kepelman said there was one

1:22:14

thing that was bothering her that she recently

1:22:16

figured out. She said she couldn't understand

1:22:19

why the defense was being so adamant

1:22:21

that Sigfredo didn't go with Lewis on

1:22:23

that first trip to Tallahassee in June.

1:22:26

She explained that according to the defense, Sigfredo

1:22:29

and Charlie had some sort of confrontation

1:22:32

in March 2014,

1:22:34

after Charlie went to dinner with Catherine,

1:22:36

Wendy, and Jeffrey Lacaz.

1:22:39

That's where they decided to team up together

1:22:41

to kill Dan Markell. But

1:22:43

on July 1st, there was the confrontation

1:22:46

between Sigfredo and Catherine and

1:22:48

Charlie as they were driving to go jet skiing.

1:22:51

Afterwards, Sigfredo called Harvey

1:22:53

Adelson's cell phone and left a voicemail,

1:22:56

thinking it was Charlie's phone.

1:22:59

The problem for the defense is if Garcia

1:23:01

and Charlie struck up

1:23:03

this deal that they told you about, an opening

1:23:05

statement whereby, Charlie,

1:23:08

you know, it goes from, I'm going

1:23:10

to fight you because you're sleeping with my wife,

1:23:13

to

1:23:14

I'll do a murder for you for $100,000 if you'll

1:23:17

leave my wife alone.

1:23:19

If that happens on or about March

1:23:22

11th at the dinner meeting, then

1:23:24

it doesn't make sense that he would

1:23:27

make this deal with Charlie,

1:23:29

go to Tallahassee in June to

1:23:31

stalk and or kill

1:23:34

and then July 1st, not know

1:23:36

how to get in touch with

1:23:37

Charlie Adelson. So that's the problem, like,

1:23:39

it doesn't make sense. He's

1:23:41

looking for Charlie Adelson. He doesn't know how to

1:23:44

get in touch with him.

1:23:45

If he had this confrontation that resulted in a path

1:23:48

to do a murder in March,

1:23:51

then he would already have Charlie Adelson's

1:23:54

information, be able to call Charlie Adelson

1:23:56

and confront him after the jet ski

1:23:58

incident, wouldn't need to accidentally.

1:23:59

leave a voice message for Harvey.

1:24:03

So that theory is completely speculative.

1:24:06

It does not fit with the evidence in this case.

1:24:08

All the evidence is consistent with Garcia

1:24:10

going to Tallahassee. Remember, he's the

1:24:12

one that rented the car. That car

1:24:15

pinged in Tallahassee.

1:24:17

And I would even take this analysis a step further

1:24:19

and suggest

1:24:20

that the fact that Garcia is

1:24:23

trying to confront Charlie on

1:24:25

July 1st, which is after that dune

1:24:27

trip, is evidence

1:24:28

that he is walled off from Charlie

1:24:30

in reference to this conspiracy. I don't

1:24:32

think he's going to be trying to fight the guy that he's

1:24:35

in the process of trying to do a murder for. A

1:24:38

guy that's about to pay him $100,000 or

1:24:41

his portion of $100,000 to do

1:24:43

a murder two weeks later.

1:24:45

She asked the jury how many coincidences

1:24:48

does it take for things to no longer

1:24:50

be a coincidence. She

1:24:52

told the jury to use their common sense

1:24:54

and to render a wise and legal verdict

1:24:57

in this case, which she said should

1:24:59

be guilty as charged. In

1:25:02

her closing arguments, Tara Kawas

1:25:04

reiterated their theory of how Charlie

1:25:06

and Sigfredo went behind Catherine's

1:25:09

back to plan the murder. She

1:25:11

pointed to text messages that Charlie sent

1:25:13

to a friend in June saying he

1:25:16

was going to break up with Catherine. And

1:25:18

that's why Sigfredo was so angry

1:25:20

when he saw them together on July 1st,

1:25:23

she said. Charlie was supposed

1:25:25

to have broken up with her.

1:25:27

And then what's even more telling members of the jury?

1:25:30

Just like that.

1:25:31

Right after the murder. The

1:25:34

communications are no longer romantic. I

1:25:36

just want to be friends.

1:25:39

You really going to break up with the girl or that you just conspired

1:25:41

to commit murder with?

1:25:43

There's not one thing

1:25:46

in his text messages. Nothing that supports. They

1:25:49

have all of these

1:25:51

text messages from the day of the murder. The day after the murder.

1:25:53

The day before the murder.

1:25:54

They don't show that to you. Because there's nothing

1:25:56

in there that shows

1:25:59

that she knew anything about the homicide. In

1:26:02

fact, the conversations are just so

1:26:04

obscure that that's not the conversation

1:26:06

that people would be having, knowing that the homicide

1:26:09

is going to take place.

1:26:10

She said there's no evidence that Catherine

1:26:12

was involved in a money drop the day

1:26:15

after the murder.

1:26:16

Hopefully, the only evidence to that is Jessica

1:26:19

Rodriguez

1:26:20

and Luis Rivera, they can't get their stories straight.

1:26:22

As much as much as they tried, as much funding

1:26:25

that probably went

1:26:26

on, even they couldn't get their stories

1:26:28

straight.

1:26:29

She pointed out how Jessica first said

1:26:31

to investigators that Catherine didn't know

1:26:33

what was in the bag, but then later she

1:26:35

testified that she did.

1:26:38

That is what they brought to you members of the jury. That

1:26:40

is what they brought to you as direct evidence

1:26:43

to try and prove that Casey was involved.

1:26:44

But no matter how hard they

1:26:46

tried, there was not one piece

1:26:49

of credible evidence, reliable evidence

1:26:51

that was presented to you as jurors. That

1:26:54

would allow you to go back into that jury room and

1:26:56

say confidently

1:26:57

that this is what happens. The

1:27:00

only evidence was Luis Rivera and he is a walking

1:27:02

hunter to come.

1:27:04

She told the jury that Catherine is innocent

1:27:06

and that the evidence the prosecution claims

1:27:09

to have against her doesn't exist.

1:27:12

That is how Ms. McBann was sit here

1:27:14

today,

1:27:15

living the worst nightmare

1:27:17

that anyone on this planet

1:27:19

could imagine.

1:27:21

Sitting in a jail for a crime you did not

1:27:23

submit,

1:27:24

knowing all the while that all you have

1:27:26

to do to go home

1:27:27

is lie, I

1:27:29

am involved and Charlie got me to do this.

1:27:32

She got her bail and told you herself,

1:27:35

I believe he's guilty.

1:27:37

He wanted to pay for what he did to

1:27:40

Dan Markel and also for getting me involved

1:27:42

in this nonsense.

1:27:46

And all she'd have to do is lie, members of

1:27:48

the jury. That's it.

1:27:51

But she's not Luis Rivera.

1:27:54

No matter what

1:27:56

she did, she has stuck to the truth. Every single time.

1:28:00

And she's not going to think to his level

1:28:03

just to buy her freedom.

1:28:05

The jury went back and deliberated for nearly

1:28:08

eight hours before returning with their

1:28:10

verdict. Catherine began sobbing

1:28:12

at the defense table even before

1:28:14

it was read.

1:28:16

In the case of the state of Florida versus Catherine

1:28:19

D. McBannawa, case

1:28:21

number 2016 CF3036

1:28:25

and 2018 CF497.

1:28:29

We the jury find as follows

1:28:31

as to count one

1:28:33

a the defendant is guilty of

1:28:35

first degree murder. We

1:28:39

the jury find as follows as to count 2a

1:28:43

the defendant is guilty of conspiracy

1:28:45

to chin it

1:28:48

first degree murder. We the jury find as follows as

1:28:50

to count three a

1:28:53

the defendant is guilty of solicitation

1:28:55

to her and

1:28:58

it is signed and dated by the foreperson.

1:29:01

Catherine's attorneys were visibly upset

1:29:04

too but after the verdict was read

1:29:06

that reporters caught Dan Markell's mom

1:29:09

Ruth Markell giving a hug to

1:29:11

prosecutor Capelman. According

1:29:15

to Carl Edders a fantastic

1:29:17

reporter who's been covering this case extensively

1:29:20

Catherine's sentencing will be held on July

1:29:22

29th. She has an automatic

1:29:24

life sentence for the first degree murder conviction

1:29:27

but faces 30 years each for

1:29:29

conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation

1:29:32

of murder. Interestingly

1:29:34

Charlie Adelson also has a

1:29:37

hearing that same day his first

1:29:39

case management conference after his arrest

1:29:42

and it's at the same time in

1:29:44

the same courtroom. In

1:29:47

the meantime Dan's mother Ruth

1:29:49

Markell is releasing a book titled

1:29:52

The Unveiling. It's about the traumatic

1:29:54

ordeal her family has gone through since

1:29:57

the murder of her son.

1:29:59

The Markells

1:29:59

have also been instrumental in helping

1:30:02

legislation pass in Florida regarding

1:30:04

visitation rights for grandparents

1:30:07

in the cases where one parent has

1:30:09

died and the other living parent

1:30:12

found responsible.

1:30:15

And that's all for this episode. I

1:30:17

did my best to fit in all the most relevant

1:30:19

and interesting pieces of testimony that I could,

1:30:22

but believe it or not, there's even more

1:30:24

that I wasn't able to fit in. You

1:30:26

can check out the full trial on Law

1:30:28

and Prime's YouTube channel, which

1:30:31

I'll link to in the show notes. And I'll

1:30:33

also be adding some additional trial testimony

1:30:35

on my Patreon. One example

1:30:38

is a witness that Katherine's defense called

1:30:40

to the stand. He's a former friend

1:30:42

of Charlie Adelson's, and I think he offered

1:30:44

a rather interesting glimpse into

1:30:47

testimony that could be coming in

1:30:49

Charlie's case. Do you remember

1:30:51

I'm ever saying something in reference

1:30:53

to, you know,

1:30:55

you can get away with murder, you

1:30:57

just have to keep

1:30:57

your mouth shut? Yes, ma'am. He's

1:30:59

not wanting to keep his mouth shut, is he? No, ma'am.

1:31:02

So you can check the trial out in its entirety

1:31:05

on Law and Prime's YouTube channel, or you

1:31:07

can join my Patreon at CourtJunkie.com

1:31:09

slash support, and I'll have some additional

1:31:11

trial testimony shortened for you for more

1:31:14

easy listening. I'll have that up sometime

1:31:16

in the next week or so. As always,

1:31:18

I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially

1:31:20

on this case. Do you agree with

1:31:23

the verdict in this one? Or do you think Katherine

1:31:25

really is innocent?

1:31:27

How do you think Charlie's trial is going

1:31:29

to go? And do you think we'll be seeing even

1:31:31

more arrests in the case?

1:31:33

I'd also love to know what you think about how

1:31:36

much Wendy's possible role was

1:31:38

discussed in this trial and what that

1:31:40

could possibly mean. Let me know

1:31:42

by joining the conversation on Instagram at

1:31:44

Court Junkie, by tweeting

1:31:46

me at Court Junkie pod, or

1:31:48

by emailing me at podcast at

1:31:50

Court Junkie.com.

1:31:52

And to hear these episodes without the ads and

1:31:54

hear additional Court Junkie bonus episodes,

1:31:57

go to Court Junkie.com slash support.

1:31:59

which will redirect you to my Patreon page.

1:32:02

Thanks again for listening. Until

1:32:04

next time.

1:32:14

Evidence ones, we have virtually

1:32:16

no

1:32:17

evidence.

1:32:17

In 1995, Detective

1:32:20

Tony Richardson was trying to figure

1:32:22

out who killed a fellow officer.

1:32:25

The case comes down to who

1:32:27

is believed and who is ignored.

1:32:29

Oh my goodness, we did connect an innocent

1:32:32

man. I'm Beth Shelburne from

1:32:34

Lava for Good Podcast. This

1:32:36

is Ear Witness.

1:32:38

Listen to Ear Witness on the iHeartRadio

1:32:40

app, Apple Podcast,

1:32:41

or wherever you get your podcasts.